Wonderland: What Happened Next
by PunkRockPrincess1302
Summary: Alices daughter has become Queen of Wonderland... But the Hearts are back to get revenge for what Alice did... This is my first ever story so I'll welcome any criticism or praise as long as it's constructive!
1. Guitars And Rabbits

Chapter One: Guitars and Rabbits

"Joel! Five more minutes!"

Joel rolled his eyes at his friends. His mum never let them carry on past 6. He set down his drumsticks and brushed his hair back out of his eyes. He and his two best friends had set this band up when they were back in Year 9, and they had practised every Wednesday and Saturday afternoon since. Joel, the youngest, had just turned 18.

His friends knew this was the signal to leave. Ben and Jack packed away their guitars, and put the amps back in the corner of the garage where they belonged. The drum kit stayed where it was. It was Joel's pride and joy; his father had bought it for him when he was 15, right before he passed away.

"Well, see ya Monday then guys". Joel smiled at them as they both climbed into Ben's car. It was nothing special, just a battered old VW Golf, but it somehow suited him. They pulled out of the driveway, already blaring Green Day out of the nearly broken speakers.

He walked back into the garage and started collecting the empty crisp packets and biscuit wrappers scattered across the floor. They left such a mess every time, and he knew his mum wouldn't be best pleased if he didn't clear it up.

"Joel! Dinner!"

"Yeah, coming Mum, just clearing this up".

He loved his mum. He was an only child, and had had a fairly straightforward upbringing. He knew that she wasn't dealing at all well with the passing of his dad. She blamed herself, said that if they hadn't had that row, he wouldn't have been driving the bike so fast…

Suddenly, there was a crash at the back of the garage. Joel spun round to see what had caused the noise, and out from behind his drum kit shot a white rabbit… Only this rabbit was wearing a waistcoat. Joel dropped what he had in his hand and ran outside. There was no way that rabbit was dressed! He stood there in disbelief for a split second, before running after it as it hopped down the side of the house and out into the field behind it. Joel couldn't believe what he was seeing. He reached the edge of the garden and jumped over the gate, and ran after the rabbit. It was all he could do to stop himself yelling to the rabbit to stop. This was crazy enough, without adding to it. The rabbit seemed to wait for him every time he fell behind, and Joel took this as his cue to keep following it. They ran across the field until they reached the forest at the edge. The rabbit stopped, and turned to look at Joel, who was still making his way across the field, panting and clutching his side from all the running he had done. Joel looked at the rabbit. That was definitely a waistcoat! He had a strange looking object hanging from the pocket. The rabbit nodded to Joel, looked at the object that was apparently a pocket watch, and hopped off through the trees. Joel followed after a few moments hesitation. He had lost sight of the rabbit now, but kept walking anyway, somehow hoping he might be able to catch up. He had no idea what direction the rabbit went, and the dirt path that had formed where people rode their bikes and walked their dogs had run out.

He had never liked these woods, he had feared them as a child, he always felt that the trees were watching him and whispering amongst themselves. There were strange looking bugs scurrying across the floor, and brightly coloured birds in the trees that had piercing black eyes that almost seemed to look right through you. He noticed that some of the trees had signs on them, nonsensical signs sending people every which way but the right one. It was now that Joel realised he was lost. Looking around for some hint of where to go, he noticed a faint glowing light coming from between the trees. 'That will do', he thought to himself, and started making his way towards it.

It was so hot between the trees. There seemed to be no air anywhere. Joel was getting closer to the light now. With every step he felt his chest tighten and his head spin. He had no idea what was doing this to him, he knew he didn't like it, but still he kept pressing forwards. He knew in his mind that he wanted to find that rabbit, and find out why such a creature would need a pocket watch or indeed a waistcoat. The light was getting brighter now; it almost seemed to engulf every conscious thought he was having. He tripped over something on the ground, that he presumed later to be a rock or a tree root, and felt his head hit the floor. He looked up as the light was getting brighter, and from the centre of the light he could just about make out the shadow of a man in a top hat. He couldn't fight this anymore, his eyelids were getting heavier. He closed his eyes as the world around him faded slowly into nothing.


	2. No Tea

Chapter Two: No Tea!

"Well I've never seen him before".

"No, neither have I".

"Do you think Freya knows he's here?"

"Wouldn't surprise me if she called him, the way she's been acting lately what with, well, you know what going on".

Joel could hear the conversation going on a few feet away from him, he daren't open his eyes. Who were they, and who was this Freya? More to the point, why would he have been called here? He certainly didn't remember anyone calling him, and anyway, why would they? He was nothing special, just some lanky kid from the country who played drums in a band. Too many questions were running through his mind. He had no idea what was going on, and as much as he hated to admit it to himself, he was almost afraid to find out.

"Kick him. Then he will wake up and we can find out who he is".

"I'm not going to kick him, Hare. He will wake up all in good time. But it would be really nice if there were some DAMN TEA AROUND HERE!"

Joel opened his eyes. If someone was getting angry about tea he would rather see that person, because they were probably a strange sort. He could see the same man that was there in the light, complete with top hat, sat on a chair next to the seemingly never-ending table that he was laid on. He had a long trench coat on that had been repaired in different places, and black boots that he had rested up on the table. He had a note tucked into the ribbon on his hat; 10/6, what did that mean? Next to him was a rather odd looking guy… No wait, rabbit? It was a hare! Of course that would make sense given that someone had referred to someone else as 'Hare' earlier on. Joel shook his head as he realised that the idea of a giant hare talking to a man in a top hat was bordering on insanity, even more so when that idea made sense.

"Hatter! He's awake!"

Joel sat up so he could at least see who was talking about him.

"I can see that. Hello boy, did you bring tea? No matter, I'm the Mad Hatter, and my good friend there is the Mad March Hare. There's a mouse around somewhere, no doubt in my teapot. She's the only thing in my teapot these days. I'm sorry I'm rambling aren't I? It's the tea, well lack of, addles the brain"

The Hatter had a weird sort of grin on his face, one that might make you think he would cook you a fantastic dinner, then inform you that you are the dessert. Joel realised he was staring, and looked around at where he had been laying. The table was huge, and covered with all sorts of cups and mugs and teapots, mostly broken. He couldn't even begin to imagine what had gone on, or why someone would leave such a mess to clear up.

"Where am I?"

The Hatter leaned forwards and Joel had a sudden thought that he might be about to die. This man came across as quite scary, and definitely insane.

"The question we must first be asking is who are you?"

This was a new voice, it was harsh and condescending. Not like the high pitched squeal of the Hare or the insanity of the Hatter. Was it the mouse? Joel felt a tap on his shoulder and turned round to see a rather large insect stood by the table. What was it? A huge green caterpillar. It had a long scarf of all different colours wrapped round the part of the body assumed to be its neck, and was smoking a pipe of some sort. Joel knew it wasn't a tobacco pipe, the biggest clue being that the smoke was bright blue.

"Well, answer him then"

This was the first time the Hare had spoken to him directly.

"Erm, I'm Joel. At least I think I am. I'm not even sure this is re…"

"TEA!"

The Hatter cut across Joel's sentence. He thought it best to keep quiet and let Hatter begin his next insane rant.

"So, Joel. Have you ever heard anything as ridiculous as a tea party with no tea? And as for you, Caterpillar, who invited you?"

"Can someone please just tell me what the hell is going on? Please?"

Hatter and Hare glared at Joel, as though infuriated that had interrupted Hatter. Well that made the rules clear, everyone else was allowed to be rude but he wasn't. He put his head down and muttered an apology to the odd-looking pair. He decided that he had passed out when he tripped and hit his head in the woods, and now this was some nonsensical dream that he would wake up from any minute. All he had to do was ride it out. He was so busy thinking about what was happening that he almost missed what the Caterpillar had to say next.

"Freya called you here. She needs you. I don't know why, looking at the state of you. But she says she does."

"And who is Freya?"

Joel was getting rather irritated by the fact that everyone seemed to be talking in riddles. After all, this was his mind, his imagination. Someone should have the courtesy to tell him what was happening.

"One thing at a time, boy. First things first. Then second things. Then everything else. WHERE IS MY DAMN TEA?"


	3. Escaping The Madness

Chapter Three: Escaping the Madness

"Don't mind them, they are all mad!"

Joel hadn't noticed the mouse. She was crouched down on the remains of the broken teapot next to him. She was a pretty looking thing, pale grey with big blue eyes. Joel had never seen a mouse with blue eyes. She was wearing a little blue dress that perfectly complimented them, and the tiniest of white gloves.

The Hatter had got up and was pacing up and down ranting about tea, and the Hare was frantically bouncing up and down next to him, trying to get him to calm down.

"It's only tea, Hatter!"

"Only tea! What do you mean, ONLY tea? If someone doesn't bring me a damn cup of tea I swear…"

"Swear what? It's tea Hatter!"

With that the Hatter raised his hand and smacked the Hare across the face. Joel almost felt the sting as the Hare crouched down on the floor sobbing.

"GET HIM OUT OF HERE! HE HAS NO TEA!"

Joel jumped up off the table, not wanting to be on the receiving end of that slap. The mouse jumped into his pocket and he could feel her quivering with fear.

"Let's go, you don't want to see this".

Joel nodded in agreement with the little mouse, even though she couldn't see him. Hatter had sat on a chair with his head in his hands muttering something or other about the tea being stolen, and Wonderland being in ruins. Joel stood up, and without a backwards glance walked away from the madness of the tea party. He reached the trees again and carried on walking, he had no idea where he was going but anywhere was better than with that crackpot.

"Stop here! Please?"

Joel had forgotten about the tiny creature curled up in his pocket. He reached in and picked her up before sitting down on the floor.

"What the hell was that all about?"

"I don't know. They don't tell me much. Something about not being able to help anyway. But what I can tell you is that something's going on here. I don't know what but it must be big. There have been secret meetings at Freya's place, and everyone keeps talking about some sort of rebellion. The only other thing i know is that the weathers gone".

Joel looked up through the trees at the sky. He hadn't realised till now that the sky was a brilliant white. There were no clouds, no sun, no anything. That was probably why the air was stifling.

"Mouse, if I can call you that, how can the weather just disappear?"

"Yes you can, and I don't know. There have been rumours that it's all to do with the Queen Of Hearts. Ever since Alice was here, and brought the Queen down from power, things haven't been right. Then when Alice died… Well, the world went to ruin. Now it's just her daughter trying to run the place and, although she's trying, she really doesn't have much of a clue."

"Who is Alice? And who is Freya? They kept mentioning her back there"

"Alice was the Queen of Wonderland. She came here from Otherworld a long time ago. When the Queen of Hearts was in power, it was all 'off with her head' and 'off with his head'. Nasty streak in her, that one. Then Alice came and brought her down. She went back to Otherworld for a while, to straighten things out at home, and then came back here. After all, who better to have as a Queen?"

"So Alice is dead now? And her daughters the Queen?"

"Yes. When Alice died it was only right that Freya should have the throne. She just cries all the time now, though. There's no talking to her. That's probably why she called you."

"But why me?"

"I don't know. You'll have to ask her. Now if you don't mind, I'm going back in your pocket. It was nice in there and I need a nap."

The mouse yawned and hopped back into Joel's pocket. She had made more sense than anyone else he had met so far, and he felt she deserved to be tucked safely away from the mad ones. But he had even more questions now. He didn't know what he could do to help, or why Freya had chosen him, whoever this Freya was. All he knew was that he was tired, and confused, and had to get out of this place before he too went completely insane.

He decided to carry on walking. He knew that whatever he met next could be insane, dangerous, and even frightening, but he didn't care. He still held firmly onto the belief that this was some crazy dream and that he would wake up at some point. The trees still gave out the eerie feeling that they were watching him, and for some reason he didn't doubt that they were. He kept going, through the trees, going and going, when he saw the girl.


End file.
